Lilith
Lilith (pronounced /ˈlɪlɪθ/, Hebrew: לִילִית Lîlîṯ) was God's first attempt at creating a human woman and was the first wife of Adam, before Eve. The attempt failed and Lilith became an evil, horrible creature that was a hybrid of a human and animals. In the end God banished her from Paradise to Outer Reach, where she later met her husband Cain, and together they became the ancestors of the accursed. History Lilith was God's first attempt at creating a female human as a counterpart and wife for the first man Adam, however she was a failed attempt, as she came out as a hideous cross between animal and human, and was so awful that God turned his back on her and banished from Paradise to the Land of Nod, which was the original name for the zone known as Outer Reach today. In Outer Reach Lilith found Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve who had been banished there earlier for having killed his brother Abel. They bacame husband and wife and in the darkness they built a city called Enoch. Afterwards they mated but their children turned out to be monsters, the ones called the accursed. Through these events Lilith and Cain came to be the ancestors of all of the accursed creatures of Outer Reach. Physical appearance Lilith is a hideous-looning hybrid of human and animal. Background Lilith (Hebrew: לִילִית Lîlîṯ, likely from Akkadian Līlīṯu, a female demon) is a controversial mythological figure, who in medieval Jewish folklore is perceived as Adam's very first half, wife or lover. The earliest appearance of the figure is in the Babylonian Talmud (third to fifth century). Lilith is often depicted as a dangerous night demon and a sexual creature who steals children in the darkness of the night. The character is thought to originate from a much older class of demon (lilitu) from an ancient Mesopotamian religion found in the cuneiform texts from Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria and Babylonia. In Jewish folklore, from the satirical book Sirach's Alphabet (can. 700-1000) and on, Lilith appears as Adam's first wife, who was created simultaneously with him (Roshe Hashanah) and from the same Earth as Adam - compare the creation story in Genesis 1:27 "And God created "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" and the creation story in Genesis 2:22, where the creation of humankind is described more in-depth, and we learn that Adam was formed out of dust, and that Eve was made from one of his ribs after he had been created. Certain theologians and scholars believe that the passage in 1:27 indicates that God created two humans at the same time, and that it refers to Adam and Lilith as opposed to Adam and Eve, and that Lilith has been erased from the Bible, after having been banished. The legend developed further throughout the Middle Ages, in the Aggadah tradition, in the Zohar and in Jewish mysticism. For example, in texts written in the thirteenth century by Isaak Ben Jacob ha-Cohen, it appears as if Lilith leaves Adam when she refuses to be submissive to him and would not return to the Garden of Eden after having fallen in love with the archangel Samael. In the Zohar, a comprehensive collection of mystical and metaphysical manuscripts that interpret the Torah, it is told that after Lilith's short-lived sexual relationship with Adam, in which she managed to give birth to some children, she left him as she did not think he was a satisfying mate, and later seduced Adam's first son, Cain, whom she birthed several of demons and spirits for. From this comes Kenneth B. Andersen's inspiration for the accursed, who were born in Outer Reach, which is based on the Land of Nod from scripture, and which interestingly enough is the very land Cain is described in scripture as being exiled to by God after killing his own brother, Abel, out of jealousy. According to Abrahamic traditions, all of humanity descends from Adam and Eve. God has "from one man Adam he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth." (Acts 17:26) Adam's wife, Eve, became "mother of all living". (Genesis 3:20) This means that Cain must have married one of Adam and Eve's other descendants. According to many adherents to the Abrahamic religions, Awan, the sister of Cain and the daughter of Adam and Eve, was Cain's wife. However it is also possible that Cain, after having been banished, met Lilith, who had also been banished, but to where she was exiled to is unknown. Additionally, Lilith was the only woman before Eve's creation according to Jewish legends, and Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's firstborn after all, so there would have to have passed a long time before he could have had a wife who was of an appropriate child to breed with. In The Great Devil War, Kenneth B. Andersen lets Lilith be exiled to the Land of Nod, as Cain had in scripture, and reveals that Outer Reach and the Land of Nod are one and the same. Almost all mentions of Lilith have been removed from the Christian Bible, except one place where the name appears in a list of animals. :The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl (Lilith) also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. :Ørkendyr mødes med hyæner, bukketrolden træffer sine slægtninge; dér slår Lilit sig til ro og finder sig en hvileplads. ::Isaiah 34:14 In translations of the Bible the word is often translated with "night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl". Appearances The Great Devil War * The Angel of Evil (mentioned) References Category:Characters Category:Minor characters Category:Females Category:Humans